Beatrice Leah Meikle R.N.

Leah was born in Nokomis Saskatchewan on March 14th, 1923. When she was ten, her family moved to Nova Scotia; both her parents had been born there and had gone to Saskatchewan to find work.

After high school, Leah spent three years at the St. John General Hospital School of Nursing. She was writing her R.N. Exams when peace in Europe was declared on May 8th 1945, V.E. Day.

Leah married (William) Norman Meikle in 1947 and she continued her nursing career while he studied at the University of Toronto to become an Electrical Engineer. In 1950 they moved to London, Ontario where their children, Neil and Nadine were born. They moved to Waterloo in 1958 to be part of the fledgling University of Waterloo. She was proud to have been able to watch and be part of the growth of the university from its humble beginnings to the great institution it is today.

Their family camping trips took them across Canada from coast to coast and north to the Yukon and Alaska. Algonquin Provincial Park was a favourite. In 1974-75, Leah and Norm spent a year in England and enjoyed travelling throughout the UK and Europe.

After she sold the family home, she moved to an apartment close to “Uptown” Waterloo and enjoyed life there for twelve years before moving to Terrace on the Square in 2012.

Not long ago Leah herself summed things up this way: “I have had an interesting life, (ups and downs included) and I think a useful life. I have loved and been loved and now it is time to go. My husband Norman died in 1999, our son Neil in 2011. I leave a small family but each member is very dear to me. My daughter and good friend Nadine and her husband Marly, my grandsons Noel and Bryn, Noel's wife Sarah and Bryn's partner Becky Avila—and of course, my great-grandson Everett; my brother Rae Potter and his wife Roberta, and my sisiter-in-law Betty Ritchey in Nova Scotia; my sisters-in-law Eula Smith in Ottawa and Edith Cupidio in Burlington and my many nieces and nephews.”

One of her table mates at Terrace on the Square said that Leah was always just who she was. And “just who she was” was why we all loved her so very much.